Described as “a spectacular mixture of the ridiculous and the sublime,” The Suicide tells the story of Semyon, an ordinary man who, while arguing with his wife about a sausage, accuses her of wishing him dead.

A disastrous chain of misunderstandings is then set in motion with Moscow’s shadiest characters trying to recruit Semyon to kill himself for their own cause. He survives their lottery of death because of a tuba, drinking error and a love for life.

The Suicide was written just before Stalin seized power in Russia. Erdman’s mockery of the pretensions of pre- and post-revolutionary worlds ultimately led Stalin to ban the play and exile Erdman to Siberia. The script was smuggled abroad in various versions but Erdman never saw it realized. Today, The Suicide is recognized as a masterpiece of Soviet-era literature and drama.